


Road trip

by RedQueen117



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Car Ride, Crack Taken Seriously, Error makes nests that he just..., Gen, How the hell did this happen, NO ONE KNOWS, Nightmare is DoneTM, Nightmare’s gang, Overprotective Nightmare, Parties, Pillow Fights, Road Trip, Secrets, Sleepovers (technically), These boys are dumbasses and I love it, backstories, chills out in while everyone else sleeps, dadmare, eventually, kinda totally crack, we’re still not there yet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2021-01-20 17:49:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21285707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedQueen117/pseuds/RedQueen117
Summary: What happens when you put the gang (plus Fresh and Error) in a small space together for a couple hours you ask?Well, to put it simple, chaos.Also Errors driving.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 57





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aes_hma](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aes_hma/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Parryione's Parlor of Parables](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21009122) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account). 

> Hi there! I read Parrione’s Parlor of Parables and wrote a kinda bullet version of this in the comments. Then decided that it needed more. So, uh, here you go I guess? XD

“So… where are we going again?”

Nightmare took a deep breath in an effort to avoid impaling the skeleton behind him, although he knows for a fact that Dust has a shit eating grin plastered on his face as he leans forwards against the seatbelt.

“For the final time, Dust. We are going to attend a holiday party that, for some starsdamned reason, one of the humans Error met invited us all to.”

“TherE’S tWo of THem, aCTuAlly.” Error was keeping a close eye on the road, having for some reason been chosen to drive despite his lack of glasses.

Dust nodded to himself as Cross’ voice piped up from the back bench. “Are they nice? Wait, you did tell them that all of us were coming, right?”

Cross’s worry made Nightmare chuckle, and he sent a tendril back to pat the monocrome skeleton on the head reassuringly. “They were told to expect more then just Error to show up, yes.”

There’s a pause while Cross hums to himself conflictedly before Nightmare senses his mood lighten. “Well, as long as they’re okay with it!”

~Two hours later~

“I’m boooored. Are we there yet?”

Nightmare’s iron self control was slipping quickly, and he honestly debated throwing the next person who asked that particular question out of the window, rental car be damned.

Picking up on his mood, which wasn’t hard by the way, given that Nightmare was literally radiating an aura of flickering shadows and depression at that point, Error switched on the radio.

_And another one gone and another one gone, and bites- _

“HORROR WHAT THE FUNK?!?”

_-the dust! _

The moment the song had started playing, Horror’s sockets had snapped opened and latched mischievously onto the dusty skeleton sitting across from him. He’d leaned over and, the moment that particular line played, chomped down onto Dust’s arm and refused to let go.

“NIGHTMARE MAKE HIM STOP BITING ME!!” Dust’s indignant screech did nothing but make the dark guardian laugh.

They were all suddenly thrown to the side as Error took a corner and jerked the wheel to the left. A blaster formed at the same time, its beam aimed directly at Horror who was still refusing to give up his death-monch on Dust’s arm.

“Dust don’t you DARE fire that in the car.” Nightmare’s voice had a sudden edge to it, and his tentacles had all reared up behind him in readiness to yank his boys away from the possible danger floating less than a yard away from their skulls.

_~Meanwhile, in the backseat~ _

Killer had pulled his phone out the moment the first notes of the song played, correctly predicting the chaos that would soon follow.

Cross and Fresh had started to play charades about half an hour ago, and were on their thirteenth round, with Fresh leading by an impressive six points. The psychedelic skeleton was currently miming the apparently complex process of twisting off a bottle cap using his hat as the lid while Cross was squawking and flapping his arms wildly.

They had given up on taking turns at about the three minute mark, and were just acting out whatever random prompts Killer managed to come up with for them.

A few minutes ago Cross had been Jesus, and the only thing he could think of to act out was to t-pose aggressively while humming what, to him, sounded like a stereotypical hymn. (It was despacito)


	2. Meet and Greet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be one chapter... but, uh, oops? Anyways, we get to meet Error’s human friends! Hope you enjoy ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please welcome, my OCs.
> 
> If you see any way to improve these two, let me know in the comments! I’m trying very hard to make them not cringey, but I’m not sure how well I’ve succeeded :’)
> 
> Anyways, enjoy chapter 2!

“Hi! Welcome to- Oh hey there E!”

Error nodded to the girl who’d opened the door when he’d knocked.

“HeY SabLe.”

The girl, Sable apparently, grinned when she noticed the other skeletons standing behind Error.

“And you brought your friends! Awesome! Come on in you guys, the party just started a bit ago!”

The group of skeletons was surprised by the human’s reaction to them and Nightmare leaned towards Error, “Is she always so… friendly with strangers?”

Error shook his skull as he followed their host further into the building.

“nO, THe fiRst tIMe wE met SHe actUALly TRied to STab me In thE neCk.” He paused in thought for a moment before continuing, “TO bE faiR, I wAS alsO trYIng To KIll Her frIEnd WhO I thOUghT haD broKEn iN at The tiME.”

Dust tilted his skull curiously, “wait, so this human attacked you and  _ isn’t dead?!” _

The others looked back at the human, who had moved to the other side of the room and was chatting with what looked to be this uni(mulit??)verses version of Swap!Sans. There was nothing that particularly stood out about her, except for her hair, which had been dyed a vibrant red. But nothing about that screamed powerhouse to the dark sans. Honestly she looked more like an adult who never really grew out of her edgy phase.

Error shrugged. “ShE maDE a PErsuAsive ArguMEnt, wiTH an EmphaSIs on STabBinG mE.” The glitch-ridden skeleton grinned at Killer, “KinDA reMIndED mE Of yoU ACtuaLLy.”

Killer let out an unimpressed huff, but kept his eyelights focused on Sable for the time being.

“So, what was Sable’s friend doing in your apartment anyways?” Dust inquired, watching as Horror suddenly noticed the table of snacks and made a beeline for it, pushing a few humans and monsters out of the way in his haste.

A new voice spoke up from behind them, “I wanted to welcome him to the building!” Attacks suddenly materialized and the dark sans whipped around to face the speaker. A blond human girl waved at them, looking nonplussed by the ridiculous number of sharpened bones and blasters aimed at her.

Error groaned. “ChiLL GuYS, SHe’s noT goNNa aTTack yoU.” He focused on the girl, looking mildly annoyed that she was still standing there grinning at him. “Did YOu waNt SOmeThinG oTHer thAN to PiSS ofF SAble, ZOe?”

Zoe shook her head. “Nope, I just wanted to introduce myself to your friends!” She waved again, “Hi there, I’m Zoe! Nice to meet you all!”

The attacks surrounding the girl were slowly desummoned as Nightmare held out his hand politely.

“Greeting Zoe. My name is Nightmare. With me are Killer, Cross, Fresh, Horror, and Dust.” He pointed at each skeleton as he introduced them, having to look around until he spotted Horror still filling his plate at the food table. “My apologies for our rather…  _ excessive  _ reaction. Many of us have rather negative reactions to people trying to sneak up behind us.”

Zoe waved her hands, “Oh no worries! Sable can get kinda jumpy too when people come up behind her, so I’m used to dodging stuff she throws at me on accident!”

Yet another glance was cast behind the dark sans to where Sable was still leaning against the wall and laughing as the Swap!Sans doubtless regaled her with tales of his many conquests. 

“HOw aRe yOU twO DoinG?”

Error’s voice broke through the awkward silence and Zoe brightened up.

“Oh! We’re doing pretty well here, although we both miss you, our new neighbors are so boooring. Like, seriously Megan, if you didn’t want the cookies you could’ve just said so! She didn’t need to throw a freaking tantrum about how I was ‘trying to poisoning her kids with gluten!’”

Error nodded his head in sympathy while Dust and Killer snickered.

“HUmanS aRE conFUsinG.”

Zoe nodded her head empathically. “I know, right?! They’re never clear, and getting them to say what they actually mean is such a freaking pain!”

Nightmare’s eye narrowed. “Why do you speak as if you aren’t human yourself?”

Outwardly, Zoe’s face didn’t budge from the relaxed, friendly smile she’s had the entire time. However, Nightmare felt a sudden spike of panic come from her, and frowned, his tentacles lazy movement becoming slightly more agitated at the sudden increase in negativity.

“What do you mean? What else could I possibly be other than human?” Zoe laughed, and Nightmare was impressed at how natural it sounded. Deciding it wasn’t worth it to cause a scene in the middle of the party, he forced himself to relax and shrugged.

“An interesting question. While I know of many humanoid monsters, I can’t think of one who so closely resembles a humans as you.”

Zoe’s smile faltered, and she did an excellent job of mimicking confusion. “Um, thanks? I think?” She glanced behind them, and her smile returned as quickly as it had left. “I should probably go restock the food, looks like it was all a hit with your friend!”

She walked quickly away and disappeared through a doorway into what Nightmare assumed to be the kitchen.

The perpetually goopy skeleton hummed to himself, and tapped his chin thoughtfully as Horror made his way back to the group and showed off his tasty spoils to the

others.

Error had wandered off, and Nightmare spotted him next to Sable. The Swap!Sans she’d been talking to had apparently left at some point and the glitchy skeleton had replaced him as the redheads conversation partner.

“Nightmare? Is something wrong?”

Nightmare glanced over at Cross, who had managed to liberate a few chocolate covered pretzels from Horror’s plate and was munching on them while looking at his leader with concern.

Nightmare’s gaze flicked over to where Zoe still hadn’t come back out of the kitchen, although the food on the table looked to have been refilled. 

“I’m not sure yet, although I believe Error’s ‘humans’ may not be quite what we thought.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Boundaries are set, and rooms assigned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Secrets? Potential tragic backstories?! In my works??! Absolutely. Maybe. I actually have no clue either. 😁

The party had long since ended, and Zoe had finally come out of the kitchen after Sable noticed her friend was missing and went to retrieve her. 

Both girls were now sitting in the living room with the skeletons. The food had been cleaned up, and now they were ‘chatting.’

No one said anything.

Sable was practically glaring holes in Nightmare. He assumed Zoe had told her what had happened and this was her way of warning him to back off. He almost scoffed. Even if they  _ weren’t _ human, it was highly unlikely either of the girls posed any sort of threat to him or the others.

“So, um…” Zoe fidgeted with her hands in her lap and refused to make eye contact with any of them. “Sable and I have a couple of extra rooms that we were planning to let you all use, I’m afraid you’ll have to share, but there should be plenty of bedding for everyone… I can show you where they are so you can pick if you’d like?”

Cross grinned and pulled Dust with him as he stood up, inadvertently pulling Error over as well.

“That’d be great! Come on Dust, Error, let’s go check out the rooms!”

Cross’s enthusiasm seemed to lift whatever anxiety was weighing on Zoe’s shoulders, and she grinned back at him.

“Alright! Follow me then!”

The four of them left the room, leaving the others in an even more stifling silence than before.

Nightmare finally broke it with a tired sigh.

“Listen. I don’t know what you or your friend are. And honestly? I don’t much care. Error trusts you both, for whatever reason, and that good enough for me.”

Sable cocked a brow and leaned forwards a bit. “However…?”

Nightmare’s tentacles rose up behind him, tips narrowed into needle-sharp points as the atmosphere in the room filled with negativity. The King of Negativity leaned forwards to match Sable and gave her a sharp grin.

“ _ However,  _ if I catch either of you causing harm to my boys, you will both be condemned to an existence of suffering for however long your pathetic SOULs last before tearing themselves apart in agony.” He tilted his skull. “Is that clear,  _ human?” _

Sable stared at him for a moment, then let out a snort of laughter.

“Funk dude, E really wasn’t kidding when he said you could go hardcore.” She grinned at him. “But yeah, I got your  _ point,  _ big guy.” Her eyes slid to where Nightmare’s sharpened tentacles still hung in the air for a moment before their master relaxed slightly and let them drop.

Nightmare leaned back into the couch and raised a brow bone at Sable. “Very well. If there is nothing else to be discussed here, I suggest we go join your friend. I’m sure Cross will have picked out sleeping arrangements for everyone by now and after the drive it took to get here, I’m sure my boys would appreciate being able to rest.”

Sable nodded and stood up. “Alright then, this way.”

She walked towards the same hallway Zoe and the others had disappeared into, but didn’t bother to check behind herself. Nightmare found this rather odd given how jumpy Zoe had said her friend could be, and the obvious threat Nightmare had shown himself to be mere moments before.

Filing that bit of information away to be mused over later, Nightmare picked up an already half-asleep Fresh in his tentacles and motioned for Killer and Horror to follow him.

The five of them found the other four in the midst of what could only be described as complete and utter chaos.

Feathers and stuffing covered the floor in a white, fluffy blanket. Sheets and blankets were thrown haphazardly over chairs, the floor, and some were even attached to  _ ceiling _ . Cross and Zoe had cornered Dust on top of a desk, and all three of them were wielding blankets that had been twisted into thick whips that they kept snapping at each other threateningly.

“What the funk is going on.”

“oH. hI gUYs.” Error was sitting on a swing made of his strings and observing the ongoing battle with an amused grin. 

“dUSt bET he COulD taKe bOTh CroSS anD zOe oN, siNcE ZoE doeSN’t kNOw hoW to fiGhT hE figUrED shE’d jUsT trIP cRosS uP.”

Nightmare groaned and buried his face in his hands.

_ SNAP _

“AARGH! HEY I WASN’T READY!”

Dust’s annoyed voice was drowned out by Cross and Zoe’s combined war cries as they pushed the offensive, driving Dust back until his foot slipped and he went tumbling ass first onto a strategically placed pile of pillows.

Both warriors let out victorious whoops as they high fived and then looked down at Dust.

Zoe grinned broadly, “See? Told you I’m not dead weight!”

Dust only groaned in response and let his skull flop back onto the pile, sending a fresh poof of feathers into the air that he immediately got in his nasal cavity and started to cough out.

Nightmare rolled his eyelight in exasperation. Barely suppressed chuckles came from behind him, and the goopy skeleton glanced back to see both Killer and Horror fighting back grins at the ridiculous scene before them.

“Oh! The guys already picked out rooms, if you guys want to go to sleep now?” She gave Nightmare a sheepish look, suddenly aware of just how late it was.

“Yes. I believe that would be a good idea given how _some_ _people,_” he narrowed his eye sockets at Dust and Cross, “are obviously already too tired for their own good.”

Zoe nodded after shooting Sable a look. “Sounds good! Okay, so we decided that Cross and Killer get this room. Horror and Dust can have the one across from it, and Nightmare, Error and Fresh get Sable’s room because it’s the biggest.”

Error raised a hand. “I dOn’t slEEp, sO I’ll jUst cHilL on tHe couCH anD keEp watCH.”

Neither Sable nor Zoe batted an eye at Error’s offer.

“Alright, I’ll bring out the spare blankets so you can nest out there or whatever.”

“How the hell do you have more blankets?!”

Sable met Killer’s disbelief with an amused snort.

“Dude, you can  _ never  _ have too many blankets.”

Zoe leaned over and stage whispered at Cross, “She goes on Amazon whenever she’s feeling bad and buys blankets and stuff  _ in bulk. _ ”

Sable sent an icy glare at her friend before giving a strained smile and nodding towards the other rooms.

“If you all want to get set up, I’ll bring out stuff for Error. I’ll be going to bed after, so if you need anything, ask Zoe.”

She then walked stiffly out of the room, and the gang could hear the sound of a closet door being open with slightly more force than necessary somewhere down the hall.

Dust let out a low whistle. “Damn, who pissed in her Cheerios?”

Zoe sighed ruefully, “Sorry about that. Sable doesn’t really like it when I tease her in front of new people.”

Cross spoke up, and his voice wavered a bit with uncertainty. “Is- is she mad at us?”

Zoe’s eyes widened and she shook her head quickly. “Oh no! If she’s mad at anyone, it’s probably me. But it’s okay, she knows I didn’t mean to upset her, she’s just had a long day with the and everything is all.”

“She is frustrated, but not with anyone in particular. It is this fact that she has the most trouble with. If she was angry with a person, she could take action against them. Without a target, her negativity simmers inside her until either it cools on its own, or she finds another suitable outlet to release her frustration on.”

Zoe stared at Nightmare.

“Um. Yeah. How did  _ you _ know that?”

Nightmare smirked at her, and would have winked if he’d been capable. 

_ “Magic.” _

  
  


* * *

“Here you go, will this be enough?”

Error took the massive stack of blankets that was overflowing from Sable’s arms and gave her a nod.

“yeAh. ThaNks STaB.”

Sable huffed in annoyance at the nickname, but Error could see the tiny grin that quirked at the corners of Sables mouth.

“Sure. Whatever. I’ll see you in the morning I guess.”

She turned to leave, but stopped when she felt strings wrap gently around her wrist.

“Need something?”

“NaH. juSt wantEd to saY thaNkS foR lettiNg us staY wIth yOu and ZOe.”

Sable didn’t respond for a moment, carefully untangling and pulling Error’s strings off from around her arm.

Once the thin, blue threads were wrapped up securely in her hand, she glanced up. A thin smile on her lips

“You and your friends are always welcome here, E. We’d have to be real fucked up to refuse helping you after what you did after all.”

Error shrugged, reaching out a hand for Sable to drop the strings back into and then flicked his wrist to make the magic dissipate.

“I toLd you bEforE, yoU don’T oWe me anYthiNg. I wAs juSt doiNg whAt i thoUghT waS rigHt.”

Sable shook her head and huffed out a laugh.

“You’re still strange as ever E.” She started walking back towards the hallway and her current room, raising her hand to wave before turning the corner.

Error began unfolding the pile of blankets and weaving his strings between them to create a suitably sturdy couch nest.

“at leAst i’M noT the Only sTrangE onE anymOre.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What'd ya all think??
> 
> This... wasn’t supposed to happen. I swear I wasn’t trying to have plot but it uh, kinda happened anyways. Oops.
> 
> Serves me right for trying to actually write something short for once... I’m just cursed to write chapters forever :’)

**Author's Note:**

> So, uh, yeah. This exists now. Should I write more? 
> 
> Should I go yeet myself into the flames of Tartarus? 
> 
> Both?
> 
> let me know ^-^


End file.
